Mamata cancels lecture date with Cambridge

Though there was no official explanation,officials said she made the decision on Friday afternoon after learning that CPM general secretary Prakash Karat will deliver a lecture at Cambridge three days prior to her visit. Late in the afternoon,she asked the Rail Board to inform the Cambridge University,confirmed her personal assistant Ratan Mukherjee.

Her close associates said Mamata has told them that she cannot leave the state given the current spell of political violence. And that she would not go abroad before the Assembly elections 2011. “The situation is changing rapidly,” said a senior TMC leader. “The CPM cadres are on a rampage in several parts of the state including Jungalmahal. At this moment she does not want to leave Bengal.”

A close aide of Mamata,however,told The Indian Express that she has been informed that Left leaders — including the CPM bosses — have a link with a section of Cambridge students and teaching community and they can create a “nuisance” during her lecture.

The minister had been invited by a new wing of the university’s Department of Political Science to deliver a lecture on “The Rising Power,” on October 25. She was to stay for two days and her itinerary included a visit to the banks of Thames. She had been invited by the British government to see the riverfront in London and have discussions with the British transport minister regarding the beautification projects being implemented in the city. In the run-up to the civic polls in May,Mamata had vowed to make Calcutta like London. Banerjee was scheduled to leave for London from Delhi on October 22.